Week 7 Reading Notes

How Internet Infrastructure Works:
Reading this article felt a lot like this
"The Internet is a mass of interconnected networks, a gigantic information structure, where computers connect through ISPs and URLs address millions of IPs."

Private Home computers and small networks connect to each other through Internet Service Providers (basically rented phone, electrical, or fiber optic lines) or other Point of Presence Servers. These Networks, can then connect to other private networks, such as a corporate network, via Network Access Points. All these networks added together form the Internet, which in turn is a large scale network that isn't owned by any specific entity, since it is composed of discrete units, all controlled by their respective owners.

The communication between all these computers is supported by routers, which act as points of control for moving information network/computer, to the intended destination network/computer. Who owns these magical backbones though? The article itself doesn't explain, but though the internet may be a giant hippy commune, the backbone, these routers, are owned by private companies.

IP Addresses: This, of course, reminded me of this comic/reference map of assigned IP addresses as of 2006.

DNS: If you've ever wanted to search the Domain Name System for information on a given URL or IP address, or just see what the corresponding IP address is for a given URL, you can use this site to perform a whois search on the list.

Dismantling Integrated Library Systems:
The article details the change in ILSs, namely from fully packaged standalone systems that were daunting to add features to or change themselves, to more modularized, scalable products, that can fit the needs of not only librarys, but other institutions as well. The shift in the market focus is away from just mere database systems that keep track of inventory and users, but systems that look at user interfacing, especially through the  Web and the Internet, and also spotlighting on pushing library services through these portals.

This works interestingly into the rest of this weeks readings, as I see this article as being an indicator of how the internet and the web has affected even how libraries look at their database systems. Now these systems are something we can, and should, give users and staff remote access to. We can also make use of and interconnected ILS, one composed of separate institutional ILSs, to expand on individual institutional databases and holdings.

TED Talks, Sergey Brin and Larry Page on Google: 
"But basically... these queries are available wherever there is power."
Sergey Brin overviews the challenges of the Searching the Web and internet with a few visual representations of the mass of queries Google is getting at any given moment, how much information is being transfered and where around the globe, and what kind of searches and trends that hit Google periods of time.

He and Larry page also talk about the Google Foundation, Google Grants, and a number of other Google projects that are beyond just a Web Search Engine, and here I think is where the important point of the video is.
Google, which at it's heart, is a library-like service, a library like institution, goes beyond just information retrieval and information access. The heart of Google lies in innovation beyond the original focus of the service and company. Google is a pro-active body, it provides resources to outreach, user focused services and products, and provide them across the planet. The possibility of an institution like this even existing is made possible by the Internet, and the global connectivity it creates.